Metroid: Samus Returns Review

Aside from a few minor tweaks and a new look, Metroid: Samus Returns doesn’t do anything new to the series; and that’s probably for the best. Metroid has made a few wrong turns since the Metroid Prime Trilogy, with sub-par spinoffs like Federation Force and disappointing games like Other M leaving fans like myself longing for a return to the Super Metroid-style 2D adventure. Samus Returns may technically be 3D, but its 2D platforming gameplay still looks and feels like classic Metroid, and it plays even better.

This should sound familiar to Metroid Fans: In Samus Returns you explore a mesmerizing subterranean cavern with interconnecting passages that lead to dead ends as often as they lead to exciting new areas. As you explore, you upgrade your arsenal with mostly rehashed mods and beams from previous games that allow you to shoot new blocks, open special doors, or roll up ceilings, and jump over other physical obstacles. Eventually, those dead ends won’t seem so dead anymore – a satisfying feeling that became the foundation for an entire genre of map design, from Castlevania to Cave Story. And like the best Metroid games, there are no other characters and no dialogue in Samus Returns. It’s just a lady, an arm cannon, and a bounty, avoiding the pitfalls of adding other bounty hunters, space marines, and (ugh) father figures that only hurt otherwise-good Metroid games. (I’m looking at you, Adam.)

In a year when Breath of the Wild so radically reimagined Zelda, it’s surprising to get such a formulaic Metroid adventure. It’s also surprisingly satisfying, while it lasts. I found myself wanting more, even though I’d just spent 13 hours 100-percenting it.

That might’ve taken considerably longer, because Samus Returns has the biggest map of any Metroid outside of the Prime games, but probing every corner of it is made artificially easier with a new skill that reveals nearby rooms and secrets with the tap of a button. It’s basically a built-in cheat that I don’t recommend using your first time through. It might make Samus Returns friendlier for newcomers, but I relished the hours I spent poring over the maps of previous Metroids, and this feature sacrifices those moments at the altar of accessibility.

Samus looks awesome, and 3D allows for much more detail in her movements.

While 3D will never be as pretty as SNES-style sprites for me, I really came around on the 3D presentation. First of all, Samus looks awesome, and 3D allows for much more detail in her movements: She bends to fire down the barrel of her arm cannon and shoots over her shoulder like a badass. Second, each 2D space you move around in serves as a little window into a lush background that greatly adds to the atmosphere. Crystal caverns and rushing waterfalls glisten in the background, a large cavern opens to reveal a vast subterranean Chozo ruin, and creepy aliens laze about in the backgrounds of levels. The beauty of these backgrounds often encouraged me to turn on the 3D slider to get the full effect.

I especially appreciated the glimpse into the ruins of the Chozo civilization, the bird people who raised Samus and who were instrumental in unleashing Metroids into the galaxy, sealing their civilization’s fate. You can also unlock 3D scenes of Chozo history, accessible in the main menu. Within the game, however, there’s little to absorb lore-wise. There’s no Prime-style scanning of hieroglyphs, let alone wildlife, and I miss the world-building detail of those prior Metroid adventures.

A desperate counter can often mean the difference between life and death.

In gameplay, Samus Returns distinguishes itself from the old-school Metroid games it pays homage to by adding some new moves, the coolest of which is a timed counter attack. It’s an acquired taste, because you have to come to a full stop to perform a counter; the beginning of Samus Returns has you do this a lot, slowing down the otherwise-blazing pace of the action. Luckily, deeper in the campaign your weapon upgrades allow you to slice through enemies quickly, leaving counter attacks as an optional way to grind for more Aeion (which recharges special abilities). In boss fights it becomes even more useful, and a desperate counter can often mean the difference between life and death. That’s where I learned to love the new move. One particularly large boss only offered the chance at a counter after a complicated series of dodges and attacks, making the fight almost Punch-Out!!-like in its complexity.

Thanks to a few more subtle tweaks, Samus’ returning moves feel better than ever, as well. Shots are more precise when augmented by a new laser sight, she turns instantly in the air, and she can dash quickly through the levels, which are brilliantly designed to minimize time spent retreading old ground and maximize exploration. For example, an area filled with twisty little passages you navigate with careful bomb jumps early in the campaign can be utterly obliterated by a new weapon later, allowing you to just waltz through it.

Like Metroid Prime, Samus Returns cleverly places equal focus on exploration and combat, though combat does tend to get a little repetitive. You’ll see the same ugly bug faces a lot, because your ultimate goal is to kill 40 Metroid minibosses to unlock all the areas. You fight the same boss a dozen times, and then a slightly bigger version a dozen more. However, later on the bosses not only get much bigger, but they also get varied behavior. You won’t only fight Metroids, either: One miniboss is cleverly hidden, and later on some of those beasts in the background come forward to cause trouble.

The bosses get really hard – which I loved – but my long, repeated battles with some bosses raised a problem with Samus Returns’ controls. Samus’s complicated weapon options have you working the 3DS shoulder buttons, slider, and face buttons in a downright painful way. After a few tries at a tough boss, I had to put the 3DS down to rest. I’ve put in a lot of hours on 3DS games, including some tough ones, and Samus Returns ranks up there with Kid Icarus: Uprising as a top hand-cramper.

The Verdict

While it’s been marketed as a remake of Metroid II: The Return of Samus for Game Boy, Metroid: Samus Returns is more of a much-needed reboot of the 2D Metroid games we know and love. It’s a safe, modern take on Super Metroid, one of the greatest games of all time. Aside from some repetitive boss fights and hand-cramping controls, it’s nearly everything I could ask for as a fan of old-school Metroids.